A Genoese Farinata, Photo Shoots and Travels to Far Away Places

Time has been speeding past me like a super-high speed jet. It’s like I am in a whirlwind, being sucked into the daily chores, replying to the many emails, the photo shoots, keeping up with the son who is getting more strong-willed and developing a distinct character, attending meetings, going to physiotherapy. It feels like I am scattered in a multitude of places all at once. I’m not complaining … it’s the way I function and it’s what my energy needs to keep it at the soaring level. However, I often feel that the days are getting shorter and I am being shortchanged with the hours in the day. Don’t you feel that too? .

I know I am not the only one who suffers under the “days flying by” or “time is speeding up” phenomenon and apparently we ourselves are to blame for this. Just think about all that we have achieved as humans in the past 10 years alone. What used to take several years to accomplish, now seems to be taking place in just a couple of years. Our lives has accelerated as we develop and evolve at a faster pace. We pack our days with routine, repetitive and mundane chores both personal and cultural, pushing ourselves forward.

Television and the internet have become deeply installed in our lives - “high-speed” Wi-Fi is what we need and we seem to get extremely irritated when a page takes longer than 2 seconds to load! Truth is the time we spend on the internet is time away from creating longer-lasting quality memories. Distraction, repetition, and routine: our recent past offers less memorable content to ponder upon and therefore appears shortened.

We feel that our children mature faster than we did at the same age. More technology, more responsibility, more information, more innovation - causes not only our children but also us to develop at a faster pace. We are packing more personal growth in a shorter amount of time, accelerating our awareness and emotional maturity. It seems we are covering ground and learning a lot more faster than ever before. I personally feel I have advanced more in the past 2 years than I have in the past 5 before that.

But there must be a balance and a time to step out and simply slow time down. Time to create those memories that last longer and have an impact. There must be time to just hang out in the hammock and watch the clouds sway past slowly and there must be time to daydream.

Over the past 6 months many things have happened - the skiing accident, the knee surgery, the healing, the unpleasantness at work. There have also been many new projects, workshops and photo shoots. Because time flies, I have often felt like I was not able to grasp everything like I would have liked to. But because time heals and makes us wiser, I hope the experience makes me a better person.

Early this year I started a fantastic collaboration with the magazine “Köstlich Vegetarisch” (Delicious Vegetarian), a great magazine focusing on healthy, vegetarian and vegan recipes. In January I became one of their main photographers and ever since then we’ve been having a blast at the photos shoots. Although we are separated by several kilometers our photo sessions are filled with creativity and laughs over the phone or Skype. I wanted to share a small selection of the images I have shot for them over the past months.

One of the first recipes I was to shoot was for a Setian Pilaf. I had never worked with Setian before and was fairly nervous. With tips from the fantastic Denise Vivaldo and the talented Heather Gill I was able to prepare myself accordingly. The recipe was divine and I think I did justice to it with my image. Phew! Thank you friends!

For the upcoming issue I shot a feature for sweet treats using vegetables. They were challenging recipes but we were all very pleased with how the images turned out. I’ll share them when the issue comes out. I shot the Italian trattoria feature for the current issue and one of the recipes was of a divine farinata from Genoa.

Katja Schilling is the recipe developer who creates many of the mouthwatering recipes that appear in the magazines. Her recipes are innovative, easy to recreate in the kitchen and they always taste simply delicious.

Farinata is a thin unleavened cake made with chickpea flour originating from Genoa and became a typical food found along the coast of Liguria. The ingredient list is short and there is hardly any effort to making this rustic dish. In Liguria it is a much beloved snack and bakers often hang out signs announcing when batches of farinata will be ready and the customers begin lining up well before the time to make sure they get their hands on a slice of farinata fresh out of the oven. It is eaten like a pizza or as a side with salads cut in wedges, drizzle with olive oil and freshly cracked black pepper.

In a clean mixing bowl slowly whisk together the chickpea flour with 700 ml cold water until you have a lump-free, thin batter. Allow to stand for 1 hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 220° C. Add the rosemary, a good pinch of sea salt and the olive to the chickpea batter and give it a good stir.

Line a baking tray with baking paper and pour the batter into the tray. Bake in the hot oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until the farinata is golden, crisp around the edges and baked through.

Slide the farinata onto a board; cut into wedges. Sprinkle with pepper and serve with a mixed salad.

Verdict

In my attempt to slow time down and create memories I am leaving for Thailand for a well-earned vacation. looking forward to lazing in the hammock, swimming in the sea, building sand castles on the beach and of course indulging in the awesome Thai cuisine. I’ll be cherishing the time with my family. Luckily, i do not need to pack much!

15 comments:

You are doing to well - I am proud of you! How exciting not only to see one's work in a magazine but to have such a great and fun opportunity! And a well deserved vacation, indeed! Hopefully your son will slow down a bit as well while on vacation! But I'll bet he is just like his mom! Have a wonderful time, Zesty my dear! And mmmmm I love farinata!

First of all congrats on the magazine deal, you deserve it and sorry about the accident, hope you feel better soon. Your photographs are simply amazing. I have been a silent follower of your blog for a while now and love your posts. The farinata is so flexible and holds on to many flavors.

Thank you for visiting What's For Lunch, Honey? and taking time to browse through my recipes, listen to my ramblings and enjoy my photographs. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. I will answer your questions to my best knowledge and respond to your comments as soon as possible.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy your stay here and that I was able to make this an experience for your senses.

Hello, I am Meeta a freelance food photographer, stylist and writer living in the cuturally rich city of Weimar, Germany with my husband and our son, where I enjoy preparing multi-cultural home cooked meals with fresh organic ingredients. What's for lunch, Honey? is my award winning food blog where I combine my love for food with my love for photography and styling...